DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Symbiont evolution and host social structure: bees and nematodes

昆虫群落可以作为病原体、共生体和共生体（共生体）传播的中心，但一个群体内的传播发生在近亲之间。如果这种近亲传播比群体间传播更为普遍，那么选择可能更倾向于群居宿主中的仁慈共生菌株，而不是孤立宿主，因为高近亲传播可能使共生体的适应性与宿主群体的适应性相结合。为了验证这一假设，正在测量群居和独居汗蜂宿主及其线虫共生体之间的遗传协方差，以代表有效传播。有效传播是衡量群体内与群体间传播的一种方法，因此提供了一种衡量宿主和共生体适应性耦合的方法。有或没有共生体的社会性和独居寄主的实验室菌落将用于测量感染对寄主适应性的影响。这项研究还将确定遗传协方差是否可以预测共生体对其宿主的影响。该项目将涉及培训本科生，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生。此外，这项研究与了解从人类到黏菌等各种社会系统中的疾病动态直接相关。

An insect society can serve as a hub of transmission for pathogens, commensals, and mutualists (symbionts), but transmission within a colony occurs between close relatives. If this consanguineous transmission is much more prevalent than between-colony transmission, selection may favor more benevolent symbiont strains in social hosts in comparison to solitary hosts, because high consanguineous transmission may couple the fitness of the symbiont to that of the host colony. To test this hypothesis, genetic covariances between social and solitary sweat bee hosts and their nematode symbionts are being measured to represent effective transmission. Effective transmission is a measure of within- versus between-colony transmission, and therefore provides a means to measure the coupling of host and symbiont fitnesses. Laboratory colonies of social and solitary hosts either with or without symbionts will be used to measure the impacts of infection on host fitness. This research will also determine if genetic covariances can predict the impact of a symbiont on its host. This project will involve the training undergraduates, including students from underrepresented groups. Additionally, this research has direct relevance to the understanding of disease dynamics in social systems of all kinds, from humans to slime molds.